it states very closely over the next week or so thank you very much from washington alan fischer meanwhile yemen's hoofy rebels say they've carried out a drone attack on an airport and military base in the saudi city have not drawn to the media say they've been targeting has containing warplanes since wednesday a saudi led coalition says it intercepted an explosive laden drone an accused iran of supporting the who sees and carrying out their attacks. elsewhere rebels in northwest syria have launched a counterattack against pro-government forces have made gains in hama province a major setback for troops loyal to president assad the fighting has taken place despite the turkish and russian brokered cease fire they hold their reports from beirut in neighboring lebanon. the rebels have beat back gains by the syrian army and its allies in the countryside of hama province in northwest syria the town of far no buddha is back under opposition control the government says it will recapture it but the loss is

a strategic and symbolic setback. for no bhutto was the army's 1st win since launching an offensive almost a month ago since then games on the ground have been limited and has been facing stiff resistance. to heavy to share of an armed group many in the international community believe is linked to al qaida is in control of this region after forcing syrian rebels backed by turkey to leave earlier this year those rebels are back on the front lines they are cooperating in what they are calling a battle for survival but it is also an indication that turkey too has joined the fight. when you take a look at the position of turkey in the living area especially the clashes which has really transpired even. turkey is very dedicated to its position that if the diplomacy is not working in the. cold feet we'll show its feet for the star to every actor inside because. he wants to accept more than

3500000 extra refugees to discard. turkey and russia work together in syria and sponsor a cease fire in the adlib area but the offensive is testing their relationship at a time of intensifying dialogue between turkey and the united states the area of hostilities includes a belt of territory. that stretches from the northern countryside of la to key provinces reaching the southern edges of province as well as rebel controlled villages west of aleppo city the pro-democracy side wants to clear those areas from rebels in order to open trade arteries and protect. and aleppo cities under its control but little progress has been made so far advancing on the ground is proving to be difficult the offensive however has depopulated villages and created a humanitarian crisis. the almost nonstop airstrikes by syrian and russian jets on

opposition controlled villages intensified since the rebel advance at least $200.00 civilians have been killed turkey and russian ties have so far survived their relationship extends beyond syria but this is where they are bargaining and strengthening their negotiating hand set of. beirut still ahead for you on this news hour from london a trip to southern china by president xi sparked speculation that rare earth exports could be a new front in the trade war with the united states officials from 3 u.s. airlines say 737 max jets will need up to 150 hours of work before they can fly again and the india captain revealed the team to beat out the cricket world cup. the u.s. justice department has announced 18 new criminal charges against wiki leaks founder

julian assange so let's get more on this from my teacher castro in washington a song has been indicted tell us about these new charges. these are sweeping charges here 18 counts that all together back to back if convicted what amounts to 175 years in prison now 17 of these counts are for violating the espionage act an additional count for computer hacking and what this indictment says is that. in 2010 worked with army analyst intelligence analyst chelsea manning in unlawfully obtaining classified information and then disseminating it on wiki leaks it alleges that these documents were hundreds of thousands hundreds of thousands of pages of classified war logs and diplomatic papers that included the unredacted names of human sources in afghanistan and iraq

so these were people who were helping u.s. military official in those countries and the publication of their names put their lives at risk and also endangered the national security of the united states so a son is currently serving a jail sentence in london he's been sentenced for 50 weeks for having skipped bail there he was arrested about a month ago after the ecuadorian embassy each active him after he had lived inside that embassy for almost 7 years to evade arrest from other charges he's facing in sweden alleging rape so since he has been evicted from the consulate from the embassy of ecuador he's also renewed in those allegations of rape in sweden and now the question is where is he going to go once his prison sentence finishes in london sweden wants to be able to prosecute him there now the u.s. is also filing for extradition to prosecute him for these 18 counts including while

any of the espionage act right in the pursuit of these charges signals obviously this real drive on the president trying to crack down on the leaking of classified information what then does this mean for the debate of the press freedom and 1st amendment protections for journalists. well that is the cover that song attorney is trying to claim he says that a songe is a journalist and in fact just released a statement that prosecuting him that this indictment should be viewed as a threat to all journalists now the u.s. government says that assad is not a journalist and thus he should not be protected under the 1st amendment freedom of the press the government says he is a hacker and a collaborator with a hacker however depending on how this thing goes there are potential consequences for u.s. journalists their relationships with their sources especially within the government

and the 1st amendment advocates are saying that they are concerned that prosecuting a song could set a dangerous precedent mariyam thank you from washington why did your castro with the latest on that story well in all the developments from washington president trump called the u.s. u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi crazy after she questioned his fitness for office a spot comes a day off to truong cut short a meeting with democratic congressional leaders following news that pelosi accused him of being engaged in a cover up another 10 temper tantrum. again i pray for the president of united states wishes family or his ministration knows death would have been intervention for the good of the country yet u.s. secretary of state has accused the head of chinese tech giant chua way of lying about the company's ties to the beijing government washington placed weiwei on a trade blacklist last week effectively banning us from doing business with the

company and escalating a trade battle between the world's 2 largest economies beijing says the u.s. needs to correct its actions if it wants to continue trade negotiations. all this speculation the latest front in the u.s. china trade war could be rare earth exports chinese president xi jinping has been tearing red factories in the country south trips being seen as a message to washington minerals are key to many products including smartphones and military equipment well they're a group of 70 natural elements that appear in low concentrations in the ground and they used to manufacture electric car engines satellites computers and much more they're difficult and costly to mine china has most of the world's processing capacity and supplied 80 percent of the rare earths imported by the us from 2014 to 2017 any tariff or changes to the supply chain could impact of a righty of american companies particularly apple and that gives beijing a leverage

in trade negotiations there is adrian brown has more from beijing. it is not what president xi jinping is saying right now that's interesting it's what he's been doing for the past few days he's been touring central china and earlier this week he visited junk c. province to go to a rare earths mine now china at the moment controls about 90 percent of the world's supply of rare earths one of the country's exports to the united states but so far the trumpet ministration has not been slapping tariffs on rare earths as it has been on just about everything else that china exports to the united states so this visit was filled with powerful symbolism now last week one state controlled newspaper suggested that perhaps it was time for china to start reducing rare earth exports to the united states as one way of hurting the trumpet ministration the

other message that been coming out from president xi jinping this week and it's a message that's been loud and clear is that it's time for china to become self-reliant when it comes to technology he feels that china has been left to vulnerable too dependent on what the united states makes things like microchips and that's why he is determined to press ahead with his made in china 2025 policy this is his signature economic policy that the trumpet ministration is desperate to dismantle but china regards that as one of its core interests and it's one concession it's simply not prepared to make. what china is being blamed for a rise in an illegal type of greenhouse gas that damages the ozone layer scientists say there's been a 60 percent global increase in the gas known as c.f.c. 11 in recent years research suggests that rise has mostly come from 2 northeastern chinese provinces where insulation materials and made countries had agreed to phase

out the f.c.s. by 2010 after their impact on the ozone layer was discovered. 3 people have died in missouri after tornadoes ripped through the u.s. state the violent weather weeks havoc across golden city and the state capital jefferson city overturning cars damaging homes and causing power outages several others were killed this week in tornadoes and flooding and iowa well has been some good news from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration though it says that the atlantic hurricane season should be less severe this year in 28 c. the region had 15 storms and hurricanes with 2 of them turning severe over the atlantic hurricane season outlook calls for a near normal season with a 70 percent chance of 9 to 15 named storms with top winds at least 39 miles an hour of those $48.00 will become hurricanes with top winds of at least 74 miles an

hour and $2.00 to $4.00 major hurricanes reaching category $34.00 or 5. officials from 3 u.s. airlines have told the reuters news agency that boeing 737 max jets will need up to 150 hours of work before flying again the u.s. federal aviation administration is hosting officials from around the world in texas and discussing the future of the jets after 2 of the ak craft crashed in less than 5 months killing $346.00 people chapeltown scene reports. the global fleet of nearly 400 boeing 737 max has been grounded since mid march the federal aviation administration in the u.s. says thursday's meeting will provide international aviation officials to any questions they have as they weigh whether the jets should fly again representatives from boeing will not be present however since the 2 recent 737 mix crashes in indonesia and ethiopia scrutiny of the aircraft development of some wondering whether the f.a.a. and boeing should have century be treated as a single entity for example members of congress wondered why the f.a.a.

took so long to ground the 737 marks the public perception wise and it what took so long for us to do it because f.a.a. was just too cozy with. the 737 max was reportedly rushed to market after surprise boeing with a new fuel efficient plane in 20 term instead of developing a new aircraft boeing updated its 737 model with larger engines that needed to be placed further forward on the plane but that meant the aircraft could pitch upwards in some circumstances to compensate boeing developed a software fix em cas or the maneuvering characteristics mentation system however not only did the system rely on just one sensor with a record of malfunctioning boeing didn't highlight the new system to the f.a.a. or to pilots part of being sales pitch was that despite the major design changes this was fundamentally the same plane as the 737 so the research a vacation process was speedy and costly additional pilot training would be minimal

the f.a.a. took boeing at its word they make changes that you $1005.00 that but that did. we handed over all that sort of occasion process to the manufacturers and i think you know there's there's very little evidence that shows that boeing in any way to gauge any kind of robust testing of them cast a challenge for boeing and the f.a.a. is to reestablish that credibility the c.e.o. of ethiopian airlines for one says he'll take a lot of convincing to use the 737 max i cannot say that they have that and pain when fly back on it can paralyze someone to weather the economic importance of returning the 737 max to the skies will drive the plane swift recertification in the current system that we have that to do up a lead wien air bus and boeing there's a sense that this is all too big to fail you know the airlines need to get these airplanes because the airlines need to upgrade their fleets they need to better

fuel economy of the airplanes so there's an edit ability of the plane coming back to service it's actually to the old days of dying in a plane crash are one in several 1000000 none of us what we've learned from the development of a 737 max is cause for concern i'm shihab rattansi al jazeera. much more still to come but just mung jailed for inciting violence against muslims in sri lanka is pardoned and freed from prison we'll tell you why illegal drug production is on the rise across the occupied west bank and then installing suicide strive this is sending a message header and monaco wrong. how low we still got plenty of showers across the good process of year but temperatures

warming up quite nicely for many getting into the twenty's by a lot still somewhat weather down towards the southeast there pushing across turkey greece you could catch a few showers system showers still in place for say central and eastern parts not drifting a little further east was but look at the temperatures into the low to mid twenty's even in london would touch 2122 there for paris so whether you notice into western parts of france into the northeast of spite in that crowd right drift out into the western side of the made us we go on through saturday bad manners will see broad skies coming back in behind it 25 for madrid going to those temperatures up around 2021 there for london and paris acquire a rash of showers it has to be said for many by the southwest so weather that we have across the western side of the mediterranean that could also lap onto the shores of northern africa the northern parts of morocco will then areas of algeria you could see some wet weather here over the next couple days if anything might even pop a little bit as we go on it's a sad state seeing some rather wet weather too fine and dry across

a good parts of libya say the central and eastern parts of the country just nature's for current temperatures 40 back a touch by saturday. the strength of algeria at that because we have to thank you chad. found 50 now poor people are coming to watch and actually shared information with the al-jazeera team in track that millions of dollars are being stolen in a scam that starts in the philippines and stretches across the globe one o one ace gains exclusive access to this cutthroat on the world through a criminal turned whistleblower on al-jazeera. it's a daunting climb to one of the holiest sites in bhutan tigers nest ball astri seems to defy gravity every few cities is expected to complete the pilgrimage to ensure peace and happiness when it became a democracy in 2008 the time put happiness at the center of all political policy

inspiring the un to pass a resolution urging other nations to follow betimes example but how do you measure it many brittany's happiness is what we ensure it if it is quantifiable but by simply turning its pursuit into policy bhutan has done what no other country has. welcome back just a quick look at headlines now india's prime minister narendra modi has claimed a landslide win in the general election and looks set for another 5 year term is running the party has increased its majority in parliament pentagon has confirmed the u.s. is considering sending more troops to the middle east as tensions escalate with

iran washington has already deployed extra forces to the region saying it's facing unspecified threats from iran and the u.s. justice department has announced 18 new criminal charges against wiki leaks founder julian assange they include unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources. telling other stories we're following a buddhist monk accused of inciting violence against muslims has been released from prison in sri lanka the head of the buddhist power force was given a presidential pardon while serving a 6 year sentence it comes just a week after a muslim buildings were attacked in an apparent reprisal for the easter sunday bombings in elfin and as has more now from colombo. supporters of the theater waited eagerly outside the valley could a prison in colombo. a pardon signed by prison mighty policy received on wednesday night wife clean his 6 year sentence for contempt of court but on thursday security

concerns forced him to leave through did give only to reappear at this temple in look a short while later. his 1st stop was to pray. nam a sort of pedo has attracted controversy since he founded a nationalist buddhist organization in 2012 called the. meaning buddhist power force. responding to a rise in nationalism after the end of sri lanka's civil war he began his campaign to protect what he called the single a buddhist identity of the organization has been accused of hate campaigns against the muslim community the theater himself was accused of instigating anti muslim riots in 2014 a charge he denies 9 is out of hero was jailed on contempt of court charges for insulting the judiciary in 2016 during a case into the disappearance of

a journalist where military personnel were being investigated you know people they're targeting you know there's nothing they didn't but destroyed my character they killed me without actually telling sorry. child me but there's a truth. we have and always will be committed and. there have been attacks against muslims on hormones and businesses in recent weeks after the easter sunday bombings that targeted churches and how does that killed more than 250 people so some are questioning the timing of his release genotypic demised in i began but the president is belittling the judicial system by his action and proving that the claims made by the buddhist priest against judicial offices and the attorney general's department a true on thursday the monk urged his supporters to stay calm during these tense times the controversial buddhist priest says after years of being vilified he's now

been vindicated but some say prison. would have to justify his decision to grant this. jazeera colombo. a the netherlands of kicked off the voting in european parliamentary elections and pro european parties are predicted to have won the most dutch of supporting to exit polls europeans are voting over the next 3 days to elect 751 parliamentarians the outcome in the netherlands will reassure established parties fearing a surge among the far right labor easily beaten up stop populist group and prime minister marc rich's party came in 2nd exit polls show the anti islam party for freedom losing 3 seats or post polls closed just over half an hour ago here in the u.k. where people were not expecting to have to vote of course

a person had been due to leave the e.u. by the end of march but parliament was unable to agree on the withdrawal plan the political deadlock has led to a surge in support for the upstart breck's it party at the expense of the ruling conservatives according to opinion polls a campaign group says hundreds of e.u. citizens trying to vote were turned away because of administrative mistakes will the french far right eat a marine le pen has been ordered to reimburse the european parliament more than $330000.00 for money paid in correctly to an $8.00 the european court of justice rejected an appeal from le pen who is contesting a lower court's ruling against her former n.e.p. will now have to pay back the money she claimed for a parliamentary assistant who was based in paris le pen has vowed to take the case to the european court of human rights. now more than 120000 students are missing school in libya's capital because of fighting between forces loyal to the wall of her life after and the un recognized government many education facilities have been

destroyed since half dozen offensive to take control of tripoli began last month mamata abdul wahid reports. 50 days of fighting in southern tripoli has changed many aspects of people's lives the education ministry decided to close schools down until the end of the fasting month of ramadan. but this school in the super neighborhood near the city center is the exception it's remaining open for displaced students to catch up on missed classes my year most of us is a 12th grade science student she was displaced along with her family from the word it'll be area in southern tripoli after the fighting broke out on april 4th she has joined other students in this school tim primarily but she still has concerns. and i'm still worried about the missed curriculum the time wasted and above all

where we'll sit exams if the original students of the school return here after ramadan have no idea what happened to my old school it could have been damaged by the ongoing war there i don't know how long this will continue we're under stress. 5 weeks ago a school in ames on a neighborhood in southern tripoli was targeted by a fighter jet belonging to the forces of warlords have turned to days later another jet hit this education warehouse in the same neighborhood it's the government's main reserve for school supplies books turn it into ashes and the whole building collapsed by the explosion the books stored here used to be distributed to areas all over the country. millions of textbooks in this warehouse were damaged by the airstrike in mid april along with the equipment and students records

libya's education minister says it's a great loss that will affect teaching across all age groups for months to come. the education ministry is postponing classes in safer areas 2 it says that's because fuel shortages and other problems have made it difficult for students streatch their schools. education will be resumed after aid and all students from the troubled areas can resume their classes and safer areas they moved they can also be set for exams in the areas they move to although i'm sure it will face a problem of overcrowded schools by then the fighting in southern new tripoli led by have to as forces to take control of the capital has forced it nearly 70000 people to leave their homes and according to the education ministry more than 120000 students are unable to go to school other schools have been used as temporary shelters for those displaced by the fighting not only libyans but

foreign migrants and refugees as well. marianna says she's still traumatized by the sound of rocket explosions near her home her dream is to start missing classes at the university later this year but she's wanted she might not be able to fulfill her dream if the world moves closer to the city center. tripoli. palestinian police say illegal drug production is increasing across the occupied west bank and much of it is destined for use inside israel if thought he's blame the rise on western economic conditions for palestinians as hard to abdel-hamid reports. as a young carpenter ahmed that's not his real name couldn't make ends meet so it was difficult to turn down the chance to make some quick money when the opportunity presented itself but it landed him in prison.

a palestinian living in israel rented the 2nd floor of my shop he brought soil seeds water tanks everything needed he told me all the medical plant and it takes a month to grow and i would get 10000 dollars in exchange i don't have to do anything i barely have any work i don't have a permit to work in israel so except. $2500.00 plants were found on the upper floor of his family business now he's facing up to 15 years behind bars of being charged with growing cannabis plants and drug trafficking police say that illegal truck plantations have been spreading across the occupied west bank ever since it became more difficult to import the drugs through dishonor. brigade you have the law believes is due to an increase in demand in israel where mary one is tolerated for recreational use but production is illegal. but me explain over

the past 4 or 5 years there's been this trend to plant drugs like this in the west bank especially synthetic cannabis known as hydro it's this one here they grow this and greenhouses are in secret labs at home this started when it became more difficult to traffic from sinai drug rates were stepped up by 30 percent in the occupied west bank last year about 33000 plants were seeds that's with an estimated market value of $7000000.00. it was the prospect of getting some of that cash that pushed some years to accept an offer to grow the plant 31 he's unemployed and has 5 children to feed. and i didn't produce for the local market it was all for export but the seeds come from israel to the bedouin they put them here at someone's place for a certain period of time depending on the type they could take 2 to 5 months to mature i planted them in

a valley which is hard to access authorities suspect there are many more money $1.00 of fields out there but most would be in the soup called area c. which represents about 60 percent of the west bank but palestinian police are not allowed to operate there without prior consent from israel making it more likely that illegal drug production will continue to increase as the economic situation among palestinians continues to deteriorate but at that hamid al jazeera in the occupied west bank. well now botswana's government has overturned a ban on elephant hunting 1st introduced in 2014 the southern african nation is home to the largest population of elephants with an estimated 130000 the government says that while the animal numbers have become unmanageable in certain areas and small farmers a suffering the decision has triggered an angry reaction from conservationists who believe the move is political well it might be the largest animal walking

a hole in the earth but the elephants are considered vulnerable with conservationists warning that poaching is pushing them closer to extinction world wildlife fund says the elephant population has fallen from 10000000 at the beginning of the last century 241-5000 today while botswana's elephant population is growing those in east africa have been reduced by nearly hoff over the last decade as a result of poaching. i'm joined now by barnaby phillips who is director of communications for the elephant protection and it's lovely to see and you are actually just in botswana last week tell me then your reaction to this decision it doesn't come as a surprise the feeling the popular feeling in botswana that i encountered particular in the northern part of botswana where there is a big concentration of elephants people wanted hunting to come back the result of what is called human elephant conflict elephants make different difficult maybe as

they destroy crops they destroy hearts they destroy water installations on occasions they kill people the argument of the botswana government is that they have to convince the people who live alongside these large dangerous animals that there is some sort of benefit in their conservation and ultimately of course the hope is that that can be sustainable but botswana is not unique in having this growing problem of human elephant conflict it's happening across the elephants range is happening in countries in east africa kenya uganda countries in central africa the root of the problem of course is that human populations across africa are growing very fast elephant population sadly are generally declining botswana being a happy exception to that sad decline and people and animals are competing over scarce resources yes and so if this has been a long running problem with this conflict between humans and elephants and

with pharma struggling to cope with elephants impinging on their land what's prompted the government to make this move now while there is a political context in botswana the hunting ban was brought in by the previous president in karma president mrs e. the current president 2 faces reelection in october has fallen out very badly with president former president carter and elephants and conservation generally have become before lines through which this battle is being played out i think president has probably done his popularity. some good at least in the short term in the run up to october's elections by reintroducing the ban by by by lifting the ban on hunting what concerns a lot of conservationists not so much in southern africa but across the rest of the continent is whether this is a precursor to resuming a trade in ivory.